Bubbly Brew Co.

Bubbly Brew Co Home Screen

Inspiration

Our team found itself incredibly tired and fatigued on the way to CSUF for this hackathon. To remedy this, we decided to go to a cafe randomly to just re-energize through some good ol' fashioned coffee, matcha, and greatly caffeinated drinks. We then had the simple epiphany we could create a game out of this experience, and then we decided to make it a reality over the last 24 hours.

What it does

This game allows you to experience the journey of managing your own cafe, with an emphasis on a deep sea theme. You have to serve various customers in an underwater cafe, and experience the business management principles and the amazing food and drinks you sell simultaneously as you provide a satisfying customer experience for all that come to Bubbly Brew Co.

How we built it

We used a combination of various technologies to make this game function in the form of a webapp, including HTML, JavaScript, PixiJS, React, as well as Google Gemini API to deal with the functions of talking with the customers as you dialog with them to take their orders.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges that we ran into were definitely the border detection system, where the player can walk into objects without being pushed outside, or even hide behind the objects. We also met problems such as trying to implement the sprites into the game correctly, the game scales with screen size, etc.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

Although game development and this project as a subsequent result has proven to be more difficult than everyone on the team could have ever expected, we also learned that the process of developing a game itself is one of the most rewarding endeavors you could possibly pursue while creating a technical project. The game you create allows you to not just express your technical abilities through the code you make, but to self-actualize and appreciate the artwork and imagination you had in your head of a possible experience one could have through compelling storytelling and real user agency through the game experience they play.

What's next for Bubbly Brew Co.

We wish to add many more features to our game in the future! We wish to expand the currency system in our game so that you can do more with your money, from expanding the business to even advertising your coffees and matchas outside the local area to attract more foot traffic. We also want to add a wider variety of drinks and customer types so that you can play and experience a game that has a heavier emphasis on game progression as opposed to just the initial experience, so that it is closer to real life in the sense of you managing your cafe business. We want the player to experience the journey of managing the cafe, not just the novel thrills of the first day!